1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a fuel supply apparatus, a computer-readable storage medium, and a method of controlling the fuel supply apparatus.
2. Discussion of the Background
A known fuel supply apparatus in the related art separates raw fuel to produce fuel having different properties from the raw fuel and then supplies the separated fuel. An example of such a fuel supply apparatus is an apparatus equipped with a separator that separates raw fuel into high-octane fuel having a higher octane number than the raw fuel and low-octane fuel having a lower octane number than the raw fuel (see PCT Japanese Translation Patent Publication No. 2004-522039 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-144720)
Because the fuel separating performance (i.e., the permeability rate) is dependent on the temperature of the separator, one important issue in a fuel supply apparatus is to adjust the temperature of the separator. In this regard, an apparatus that adjusts the temperature of the separator by using, for example, a heater to preliminarily heat the fuel to be separated has been proposed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-232624).
Furthermore, an apparatus that quickly increases the temperature of the separator by injecting high-octane fuel having a high evaporation temperature into the separator so as to quickly adjust the temperature when starting an engine has been proposed (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-144735). Another proposed apparatus properly increases the temperature of the separator by increasing the pressure of raw fuel to be supplied to the separator when the temperature of the separator is low (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-1754).
Furthermore, another proposed apparatus related to the above-described apparatuses is equipped with a forced discharge device for preventing the fuel from being heated excessively by the heater in the fuel supply apparatus. Specifically, the forced discharge device forcedly discharges the fuel from the heater when the temperature of the fuel in the heater is higher than or equal to a reference temperature or when the temperature of the fuel in the heater is expected to become higher than or equal to the reference temperature (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-144734).